Feelings, Nothing More than Feelings
7 things that got me thinking (and feeling)...
Hi there!
I’m on book tour for “Failures of Forgiveness” for the next two weeks. If you are in any of the cities below, I hope you can join me. I would hate for the bookstores to be empty and I have to tweet something like this on X.
Here are 7 things that got me thinking (and feeling) this week:
America is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop. I’m a record collector, and one of my favorite hip-hop albums in my collection is LL Cool J’s “Radio.” His B-Boy Stance on the back cover is cool (I own the red and black Jordans he is wearing), and his voice is so powerful and captivating. We celebrate Hip-Hop for its rebelliousness and ingenuity, among many things. If I had to choose a philosophy paper that embodied a hip-hop spirit, this Kristie Dotson essay takes the cake!!!
“Thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me!” says Coco Gauff after winning her first US Open. I’ve always known there was an interplay between resentment, motivation, and performance. So happy for her!
Having a hard time with work-life balance? Franz Kafka did too as he tried to balance his insurance job with his literary pursuits. In his diaries he says: “Wrote nothing.” “Wrote Nothing.” “Have written nothing for so long.” He saw himself condemned to a “horrible double life from which insanity is probably the only way out.” If you thought you had a hard time balancing things, you are in good company. BookForum is back and Charlie Tyson’s article on Kafka is worth a read.
“Feelings, nothing more than feelings.” Nina Simone was such a genius. The piano playing and the special commentary in this performance is so powerful.
“What if the past is not something we can exorcise, but something we have to live with?” asks Harvard Professor Matthew Potts on his reading of Toni Morrison’s Beloved. For more, check out the podcast episode on memory and repair.
I’ve been thinking about self-care for a while for a future project I’m working on. One of the ideas that ring so true in regards to it is: “Our own health and well-being is always bound up with other people’s health and well-being, and it is possible to take care of ourselves while also caring for each other—that, in fact, they are part of the same project,” says authors Alyson K. Spurgas and Zoe C. Meleo-Erwin in their book “Decolonize Self-Care.” For a no-BS way to rethink the practice, I definitely recommend their book.
My favorite and most watched movie of all time, The Last Dragon, is now on YouTube for Free. Bruce Leroy will always be my hero. This movie has always made me feel young, cool, calm, and victorious.
Thanks for reading! If you’d like to support my work, buy my books, listen to my podcast, or subscribe and share this newsletter.
Myisha
PS. If you leave your house and go to your local bookstore to talk forgiveness with me and my interlocutors, I promise you will have a good time!! I guarantee it.
